1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, system, and article of manufacture for generating test scenarios using reusable triggers indicating graphical user interface (GUI) elements and actions.
2. Description of the Related Art
To perform software quality assurance (QA) on a graphical user interface (GUI) program, the software developer may use an automated testing technique to test the GUI program. GUI test automation techniques seek to replace manual operations by predefined test scripts, so that testing work can be performed more effectively and efficiently using test scripts. The test scripts include code to enter data and perform GUI actions, such as mouse clicks, keyboard strokes, etc., on the GUI program. The automated test scripts are written and executed to simulate human behavior such as mouse click or keyboard input to verify each function of the GUI program.
After test scripts are written, significant maintenance costs may be incurred if GUI objects in the GUI program are modified. In such case, the test scripts must be updated to reflect the changes to the GUI objects. For example, a new button or GUI object may be added, and then the test scripts must be updated to accommodate these changes to the GUI objects in the GUI program.
In certain GUI test development tools, the test developer may create reusable components of a GUI test scenario, where each reusable component comprises a series of actions to perform at a GUI state to transition to a next GUI state and verification tests to perform at a GUI state to verify the values and output at the GUI state. The developer may construct test scenario using the reusable components. Reusability is an important consideration for automated testers to allow them to maintain/write once and reuse n times, and thereby reduce the maintenance effort by (n−1) times.
For these reasons, there is a need in the art for improved techniques for generating test scripts and scenarios to test a GUI program.